Clothes - Budget help please

elona

Alleycat


You will LOVE the new Primark in Leeds. It is huge (3 floors).

I got winter coats that my daughters loved and will wear, with hoods for £12 each! Also got a lovely pink satin look throw for DD at uni for £10 which looks as if it cost at lot more. Lined skirts for £8, tops for as little as £3 or £5 if you really love them.

Alleycat

Oooh Elona, you gonna pay OH's credit card bill?! May have to 'pop' in at the weekend!

divadee

starlite wrote:

asda is great too.especially during the sales!
i keep hearing good things about tesco, but they seem a bit expensive whenever I look..maybe I'm too tight..hehhee

its not just me then?

Whenever I am in tesco i think to myself ooo thats cheaper in asda or primark etc... I never find a bargain in tesco.

Alleycat

divadee wrote:

Whenever I am in tesco i think to myself ooo thats cheaper in asda or primark etc... I never find a bargain in tesco.

I find the Tesco Value basic short sleeve stretchy tops to be a good bargain and I got a really nice pair of trousers a while back for £8, though I have to agree that the nicer things are a bit cheaper in Asda.

pavlovs_dog

if you have fashion conscious kids who wont be seen dead in anything unless it has x/y/z label on it, i highly recommend Tk maxx (im obsessed, i could live in there ) for big fashion names at more platable prices then what you'd have to fork out for the same thing on the high st (ie tshirt with rrp of £20 odd pound at £10-£14)

a few words of advice:

allow yourself plenty of time to look around - you need the patience of a saint if youre going to find bargains in this shop

make sure you have your hands free - take child/OH/friend to be your donkey, or grab a trolley on the way in

remember that things are sorted by item type (eg ladies knitwear) by size - there is no point trawling through the whole rail of clothes (which could have sizes 8-18 on it) when you only need loom at the size 12 section.

check out the clearance rails - the items with the red stickers on the price tags. i've found pairs of levis for £6 here before now...

remember that the price tags show the rrp (ie, what the manufacturer wants for the item) above the Tk maxx price

tk maxx can offer cheap prices because not oly does it buy in bulk, but the items are either out of season, or seconds (may have small defects/imperfections).

if you are not happy with the item (ie button missing, small hole) dont be shy to go to customer services and say you are prepared to buy the item if they knock a % off...i've done this before with a pair of jeans, and they took an additional 10% off for me because of a missing button.

hillbilly_4

divadee wrote:

its not just me then?

Whenever I am in tesco i think to myself ooo thats cheaper in asda or primark etc... I never find a bargain in tesco.

I'm the opposite, I always find one in Tesco, they always seem to have a sale on when I'm in there. Bought shorts and t-shirts at the end of the summer for 8 yr old son - only 50p each :j I always buy school uniform from Tesco as its reasonably priced and hard wearing.

pdoff

do u mind second hand? all mine & kids stuff from sales & charity shops, i hate to pay more than £5 for 1 item! hubby has to have new designer stuff - will only wear levis 501s etc but i get them in sale & he just has less choice of what to wear! u can get designer stuff 2nd hand if u go to charity shops in "posh" areas. i got a dress once for £5, wore to a party & was mortified to see someone in same dress, till she told me she had paid £80 for it!! tee hee!

Ember999

I have a £120 a month clothing allowance I pay myself into another account especially for me to spend on clothes. I buy what I want on my LLoyds TSB credit card as and when I want it and pay this 'clothes allowance' on to my credit card every month. Sometimes my card is in credit, sometimes in debit. This does me. My hubby, I buy what he needs when he needs it. He doesn't want or need as many clothes as me as he's a guy so he's a bit cheaper

HappySad

Savvy_Sue wrote:

It depends whether you want to buy lots of clothes or just a few. If you want lots of clothes, then you need to see if you can live with Primark etc. They are cheap and cheerful, you can't expect them to wear that well, but at those prices you don't begrudge replacing them every year. If you are fashion conscious, I'd say that was the way to go.

If, on the other hand, you want a few items of good quality, you need to spend a bit more. But there's no point doing that if you get bored of the same outfit after a few months and never wear it again. Or if you're highly fashion conscious!

If the different members of your family have different temperaments in this respect, don't try to impose the same regime on all of them. My older boys will happily live in Asda jog bottoms and plain t-shirts, but the youngest wouldn't be seen dead in such things. He pays for his own t-shirts, but I bought his last two pairs of jeans from Next (outlet shop) for £5 each. For the fashion conscious, you need to find shops like that to buy clothes on a budget.

Shoes are one big expense, I don't think you can skimp on those, and at 9 that's probably a pair every 6 months, whereas grownups don't usually need shoes until the old pairs wear out ...

I completely agree with SavvySue. If you want to change your clothes lots then go for Primart where most clothes there (but not all) will not last long. But if you want it to last get quality. Look at the material & how it is sewn together. Try the clothes on before you by ensures you get a good fit. Next & M&S sell well made clothes but you can also get good quality sewn clothes from many shops nowadays.

I mostly buy second hand clothes from charity shops or desgner shops in the city. You pay the fraction of the price. I apply the same rules when you go second hand as when I buy new.. I check the quality of the material & sewing.. try it on before buying to ensure a good fit.

I don't have a budget & I don't buy that many clothes. This is because I don't really throw away my old clothes. I just keep them in the loft then a year or two late, I go through them and find that I love them all over again. If you stick to more classical styles & are not too much of a fashion follower then this works well. "What not to Wear" BBC1 is a good program to watch to give you ideas for developing your own style. I also watch what others are wearing on the street & develope my own fashion ideas from that. If the fashion houses can do it that way so why can't we?

Son is only two so I buy most of his clothes from children's clothes sales (NCT http://www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com/events.asp?show=nns). Tesco is just as cheap as second hand & some of there styles are great. Asda is also stylish.

When family lived closer together we used to swap clothes with each other.